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Money Problems!


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Thought I would just put this out there and see if anyone agrees with me. Show masters have got a lot of stick on here this weekend from people including myself but we the public have to take ownership of some of the problems. One of the biggest reasons for big queuing problems is that people weren't prepared when they got to the front of a queue they would start faffing for tickets in the bottom of bags for photo shoots or with money at autograph tables and as everybody only has £20 and then the crew have got no £5 notes left need I go on!

This was my 7th showmasters event so I tried to be as organised as possible I managed to buy £100 worth of showmasters vouchers last year in the old shop I know you couldn't get these through eventbrite but on Saturday the first thing I did was go to the sales desk with a credit card and buy some more as I hate having wads of cash on me for anything.( you get change as cash if anyone is worried about vouchers left over but they are valid at all showmasters events) I also after reading a very good guide on this forum started saving £5 notes myself so I had a float if needed( I actually changed a £20 for one crew member as he had none left) I also had the eventbrite app on my phone with all the tickets on which worked perfectly( had printouts just in case)

I noticed that on the Sunday the queue for the cash machine snaked half way across the ground floor all taking time and space!

Are there alternatives? Yes first try and be prepared but also could the show adopt cashless purchases I was recently at a Music festival in the UK where you topped up an account before hand and on the day you got a wristband with a chip in it which you used for all purchases food/drink/merchandise and if anyone is worried about leftover money it was refunded after the event.

I don't think prepaid autographs are the way as all guests sign at different speeds but I Think cash needs to go!

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At the last destination Star Trek you could only pay for autographs with pre purchased tokens as the signing area was managed by a different company. Pretty sure showmasters said after the event that they wouldn't go to a token only system as it created too many problems.

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Before I went I had decided who I wanted to see for autographs and knew exactly what it would cost. I had over £400 in cash which included £100 in £5 notes and I had no problems whatsoever.

 

I cannot understand why people would wait until they got inside to use a cash machine as it would be a waste of time when if you had been prepared beforehand you could have got money in hand. On this forum we were warned that there would be queues for the cash machines and there was a risk that they could run out. Use a cash machine before you went in. No queues and no chance of been without cash.

 

Buying vouchers with a credit card on the day means waiting in a queue when you could be getting autographs.

 

Prepaying and then collecting a wristband also involves queues. As well as the autographs and photoshoots there were numerous stands selling merchandise. To use a wristband would require each stand having a device to record the transaction and then each stallholder would then have to wait until the money for items they had sold was paid to them which could take time. How much would it cost to have such devices.

 

If you are standing in a queue it is not that difficult to have your money in hand waiting for your turn but obviously many people just waited until they got to the front to get out their money or tickets.

 

Cash is so much simpler.

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I never understand when people don't plan in advance all those people who think they turn up at 9am and can walk staight though the door and then complain because they could not get there earlier.

I've been too other events that only sell a very limited number of photoshoots and only for centain guests in advance so I was not able to buy what I wanted in advance and I ended up waiting over 2 hours in the queue just to buy shoots.

Showmasters put the plans up in advance with times give you chance to buy in advance and it still seems no one plans like even 2 days before the event people thought they could just turn up on the day and pay on the door.

Yes it was busy but if your going to hang around a area for 2 hours waiting for your photoshoot when there is no way your going to be called around for a long time expect not to be able to move not to be able to hear because there is a lot of other people who have done the same thing.

It's not just the odd person that is not perpaired it seems to be at least 1 in 10 so if you times the amount of people getting stuff out don't have the right money out only when they get to front of queue they will have added a lot more time to your wait even if it's only 30 secs x 100 and you see where your at. Please think of those people behind you and don't be selfish.

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I withdrew my LFCC spending money from my bank in five pound notes.

 

Set yourself a budget and have it in cash (separated in various places about your person if you feel uneasy).

 

Be decisive about which photo you want to get signed when at a cash desk - you'd be amazed how often this creates a bottleneck which slows down the entire process and means that other fans end up not meeting their idols. If you want specific images, why not search and purchase before the event?

 

The first time you see an event map, take a photo on your phone - same goes for timetables etc.

 

Have your name written on a post it note ready to show the guest for personalisation (especially if you have a hard to spell name)

 

Realise that the crew are volunteers and (in the main) genuinely want to help you have a great experience - but there's so many things going off that you can't possibly expect every crew member to know everything. We're only human (except those of us sent from Krypton as infants)

 

I realise I went a little off topic, but all those should help to improve the general experience.

 

Brendon. (Crew member sat with Alan Flyng on Friday, Hayley Atwell cash desk on Saturday and Sales desk on Sunday AM)

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Although I agree with much of the above, You have to Remember that Friday and Saturday I noticed there were many overseas visitors to this event, Maybe they don't want to carry much cash around with them.. Would you if visiting another country.. Maybe they thought it would be safer once inside...

 

There could also be a lot of first time people, Run up to the event there was lots of people saying it's their first time, so they had no idea what to expect...

 

After doing a few of these Cons you become a old sweat at it, You know you must Plan and Plan... In a Idea world the system in place would not fail, I'm sure SM works hard at this, But once you throw people into the system it just goes all wrong... Life is full of this.

 

:smile:

Edited by Spacecadet is here
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The trouble is they are loads of FAQ on how things work and people recommand bringing cash with them and £5 and making a plan it's not like advice is not given and I've seen a lot of people I've seen at other event over the years do the same sort of things.

There are just way too many selfish people out there who make it worse for others.

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Yes, there are a lot of first timers and people who don't read the forums so won't know about stuff like that. Additionally people will presume that the crew would have sufficient cash to deal with change ect.

 

At the last event I was at I wanted a few auto's from each guest so had a list of each guest and what bits they were all signing - I didn't want to get it wrong in the rush. Also because it can be quite challenging managing bags whilst simultaneously carrying your items and trying to hold your cash I divided up all my money into envelopes with the guests name on with exactly the right amount of cash inside. Easy to hold and I could just hand it to the crew member.

 

It's hard with everything they have to do as it is but maybe if the guys managing the line get a chance they could say to people as they get near to the cash desk 'please have your cash ready' ect.

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I planned in advance for whose autographs I was going to get and stocked up on £5 notes. The crew working in the autograph areas were well pleased when people

paid with the correct money as they were running out of fivers.

I changed twenty pounds with one crew member as they had no fivers to give out in change and the people in front of me only had £20 notes and I did not want to be delayed.

 

When I needed a couple of refunds for photo shoot tickets I took autograph vouchers in £10 denominations as the Star Wars guests were £10 per autograph.

 

I hope Showmasters never go to voucher only for autographs as I didn't like this at DSTL as you were in effect queuing twice (once to buy your vouchers then to queue for the autograph).

I can understand though if some of the bigger name guests were voucher only and can be purchased in advance.

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Yes, there are a lot of first timers and people who don't read the forums so won't know about stuff like that. Additionally people will presume that the crew would have sufficient cash to deal with change ect.

 

At the last event I was at I wanted a few auto's from each guest so had a list of each guest and what bits they were all signing - I didn't want to get it wrong in the rush. Also because it can be quite challenging managing bags whilst simultaneously carrying your items and trying to hold your cash I divided up all my money into envelopes with the guests name on with exactly the right amount of cash inside. Easy to hold and I could just hand it to the crew member.

 

It's hard with everything they have to do as it is but maybe if the guys managing the line get a chance they could say to people as they get near to the cash desk 'please have your cash ready' ect.

 

I did that too exact money in envelopes makes life so much easier for everyone

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Speaking as one of the foreginers attending this weekend, it's a bit difficult for us to get anything other than 20s because that's what the cash machines give us when we withdraw currency. I did however make sure to pay exact whenever I could. Like I had three autographs where I got a 5 back on my 20, and then I paid the fourth one with the fives I had been given. And then on Sunday I bought vouchers I needed for my remaining autos as I was running low on cash and needed money to spend on food and drink, and made sure to get vouchers that fit the prices on the guests I had left.


We can do little things ourselves, but not everyone have the opportunity to prepare to that degree. Other than that, I agree about preparing tickets before they were due to be scanned and so forth, that's something all of us could have done. The phone app worked great and as I went through I would delete off used tickets so it was easier to find the next one. I didn't even have to get my paper print-outs, even though I had them on me as a safety measure.


For anyone worried about carrying a lot of cash, I hear you, but there are ways to store it practically invisible on your body, look into travel wallets you can clip on the inside of your pants and money bags you can hang from your neck (or bra strap - that works).

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Speaking as one of the foreginers attending this weekend, it's a bit difficult for us to get anything other than 20s because that's what the cash machines give us when we withdraw currency. I did however make sure to pay exact whenever I could. Like I had three autographs where I got a 5 back on my 20, and then I paid the fourth one with the fives I had been given. And then on Sunday I bought vouchers I needed for my remaining autos as I was running low on cash and needed money to spend on food and drink, and made sure to get vouchers that fit the prices on the guests I had left.
We can do little things ourselves, but not everyone have the opportunity to prepare to that degree. Other than that, I agree about preparing tickets before they were due to be scanned and so forth, that's something all of us could have done. The phone app worked great and as I went through I would delete off used tickets so it was easier to find the next one. I didn't even have to get my paper print-outs, even though I had them on me as a safety measure.
For anyone worried about carrying a lot of cash, I hear you, but there are ways to store it practically invisible on your body, look into travel wallets you can clip on the inside of your pants and money bags you can hang from your neck (or bra strap - that works).

 

I came from abroad, too, and was worried about not being able to get small enough banknotes, so when I got to the airport I went to the currency exchange desk with a bunch of Euros and specifically asked to get them converted into pounds in 5s, 10s, and 20s if possible. Luckily they had no problem doing that so I ended up with a big bunch of 5s and 10s and 20s, and had no trouble at the autograph desks.

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i went to the bank the day before and took all my spending money out in £5.00 notes after reading on here they will run out, then at my 2nd autograph the crew asked me if she could change some 20.00 notes for my 5.00's lol so i had a wallet of 20.00s

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This thread was never meant to criticise people who don't have a chance to get exact money say who only fly in that day or decide to come at the last minute it was just a comment that most people who are coming from the UK and had maybe had months to prepare for this event could of been better prepared on the day and not had to withdraw money from the one cash machine inside the venue and also what people thought about other means of payment such as advance e- vouchers or maybe more sales desks dotted around the venue where you could buy autograph vouchers with a card

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Maybe not everyone had been to an event like this before and didn't know what to expect? I certainly didn't. I luckily had friends who were old hands with me so they told me to bring cash in advance, and I checked if places took cards, But I didn't even know about this forum beforehand. Maybe when buying tickets for day entry when the confirmation email is sent there could be a link or pdf with "Things you need to know" which would be really helpful for first timers and help everyone out. Also when you are new having so many people coming across as exasperated with you hardly makes you feel welcomed into a supposedly friendly community....?

Just sayin'

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I agree with most of the above post's. I've always planned in advance, whether it was a previous Showmasters events or even gigs. It might the way I was brought up, I don't like missing things. This was my 5th Showmasters event I have been to and each year it is getting bigger and bigger. I like to be prepared for anything.

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As a first time at London film and comic con, I made sure to read the forum and look at what people suggested regarding money. I went to the bank a couple of days before traveling down from Huddersfield and withdrew £120 out of the bank all in £5 notes and had that in an envelope in my bag and had that as my spending money.

I made sure while I was waiting in the queue to get an autograph from Jason David Frank to get out the right amount of money from the envelope. I stood over to the side out of the way of anyone and got out the right amount of money to get an autograph of Jason Faunt and Marnix Van Den Broeke and when getting the book from Caseen Gaines.

I told myself not the buy anything from the stalls till I'd got what I specifically wanted, as I specifically wanted the back to the future book and the two autographs. I did buy a third autograph, and then I bought stuff from the stalls.

 

Something I might do next time, that someone mentioned in post on here is, I might write my name on a post it note and have that with me. I might also split my money into separate envelopes and write on the name of the guest and the amount that is in that envelope.

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